CUPE health care workers are sounding the alarm on the ongoing crisis in rural health care across Saskatchewan. Recent emergency service closures in Redvers, Radville, Oxbow, Canora, Kerrobert, Fort Qu’Appelle, Wolseley, Broadview, Kamsack, Shellbrook, and Lanigan have left residents without critical access to care, underscoring what CUPE has long warned: rural health care is in crisis.
“Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party government are failing rural Saskatchewan. The recent wave of closures proves that our rural health care system is at a breaking point, and it’s Saskatchewan’s patients and health care workers who are paying the price,” said Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE 5430. “These most recent closures are just the tip of the iceberg.”
A report from the University of Regina’s Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU) found that from 2019 to 2023, Saskatchewan experienced 952 service disruptions, leading to a staggering 6,795 days of health facility closures.
Rural health facility closures have been particularly acute in southeast Saskatchewan. The Redvers Health Centre’s Emergency and Acute Care services have not been available for most of October and have been consistently disrupted throughout the year. This has been compounded by service disruptions at the nearby Galloway Health Centre in Oxbow which leaves patients with no choice but to drive hours for care in Regina.
“These ongoing closures are creating a dangerous situation for community members in southeast Saskatchewan. No one should have to drive hours for care in an emergency,” said Adrienne Gardiner, general vice-president of CUPE (Region 4). “This short-staffing crisis in rural Saskatchewan is at a breaking point. We need urgent action to expand full-time positions and address retention issues. Failing to do so could have tragic consequences.”
CUPE 5430 continues to call for sustainable, full-time health care positions and long-term solutions to the growing crisis in rural Saskatchewan. Health care workers, local leaders, and the public will be holding a rally at the Redvers Health Centre on November 1 to demand change.
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